Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Blog All About It - Shiloh Walker: Fragile

Damn, where in the hell is an interruption when you need one? she thought irritably. A sardonic little voice in her head said, Chicken. To that voice, Devon thought back, Damn right.

She’d meant it when she told Luke Rafferty he was a complication she didn’t need in her life. She’d meant it even though she wished she wasn’t such a fricking coward. Devon just didn’t know if she was ready to handle the ups and downs that came with anything more than a casual friendship. Casual friendships–that was all she had. And it was damn lonely, too.

Then you need to do something about it.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she looked Luke square in the eye and said, “Yeah, I’ve been dodging you.”

He blinked, a little taken aback by her honest response. “Do I take that to mean you changed your mind?” he asked, his gray eyes narrowing on her face.

“I don’t know. Yes. No–” Devon blew out a breath, feeling like a fool. And a coward. Damn it, she liked this guy. He was funny, he made her smile and the way he was with kids just totally melted her heart. But she was too much a coward to do anything about it. Shuffling her feet, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her blazer and said, “Yes, I’d changed my mind. Then I changed it back. Right now I’m kind of caught in the in between.”

Luke reached up, brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. His hand lingered and Devon could have sworn electricity jumped between them, just from that simple touch. He felt it, too. She could see it in the way his eyes darkened, the way he hissed in a breath. His body changed, too, tensing and from the corner of her eyes, she could see his other hand close into a fist. The hand that had brushed her hair back from her face slid backward, curving around her neck.